Subj : Re: New to this
To   : Dumas Walker
From : boraxman
Date : Sun Apr 20 2025 01:05 pm

On 19 Apr 2025 at 10:10a, Dumas Walker pondered and said...
 DW> Yes.  The last time that happened, we eventually had a housing crisis
 DW> that set off a recession.  In that event, the housing prices rose well
 DW> above what the houses were worth.  There was an eventual correct (at
 DW> least in my area) and house prices fell back closer to their actual
 DW> worth.
 DW> 
 DW> I have not shopped around lately, so I don't know if the prices have
 DW> overshot worth again.
 DW> 
 DW> > True.  But you need plumbers, electricians, floor workers, forklift driv
 DW> > truckers, sanitary workers, window cleaners, electricians and the pletho
 DW> > jobs which do not require a college or university degree.  Also include
 DW> > farmers, retailers, shop workers, etc, etc.
 DW> 
 DW> Plumbers need at least a certification and, here, make good money.
 DW> Electricians also need a certification and may attend trade school.  They
 DW> also make good money.  Both may very well make more than someone with a
 DW> university degree and an office job.
 DW> 
 DW> > The economy has to be viable for these people as well. We require them t
 DW> 
 DW> Agreed.  Part of what happens, though, is out of the hands of politicians
 DW> and is more about neighbors.  Here, you can find an affordable place but,
 DW> chances are if the neighborhood is not already run down it soon will be
 DW> as the area will be more likely to attract neighbors (and landlords) who
 DW> don't care to keep their properties up.
 DW> 
 DW> When I bought my first house, the neighborhood was a nice one with
 DW> smaller, affordable homes.  By the time I moved out 12 years later, my
 DW> street still seemed mostly nice, but the one behind it started to have
 DW> places that were not so well kept, and there were a couple of drug
 DW> dealers who'd moved in.
 DW> 
 DW> The neighborhood I am in now has a slighly different problem.  There are
 DW> a lot of pensioners who live here and own their homes.  If they have
 DW> kids, chances are they have at least one that is a deadbeat who hangs
 DW> around waiting for them to kick off in hopes that they will wind up with
 DW> the house.  It is still mostly nice, but for how long I don't know.
 DW> 
 DW> For whatever reason, the builders around here started mostly focusing on
 DW> housing developments where the houses start off in the mid-6 digit range,
 DW> which is not affordable, and probably barely have a yard.  They don't
 DW> seem to be building new "starter homes."  Apartments and condos, OTOH,
 DW> they build those, too.
 DW> 
 DW> 

In Australia, at least in the bigger cities, we get gentrification.  Areas which were affordable rise in price as other people are pushed out of more expensive areas and move in.  We often here in Australia of "inner city slums" in the US, but we don't really have that here.  The inner city may have graffiti and drugs, but its generally more "Bohemian" and sought after by the young Liberal types who like quirky stores and Thai restaurants.  Apart from some graffiti, there is lots to do and see, whereas the 'suburbs' here are more cultural wastelands with nothing.

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